#90: Letting go

…And speaking of the Eagles: When their silver-tongued drummer, Don Henley finally broke out on his own he made a decent splash with ‘82 debut solo album I Can’t Stand Still and its viciously critical singles Dirty Laundry and Johnny Can’t Read; condemnations of America’s media culture and education system respectively.

But then came pop/rock music’s Mecca year; 1984, and his hit-loaded second album (still a great fave of mine) Building the Perfect Beast which fully thrust Henley from the shadows of the drum kit into the pop spotlight and more fame then he was necessarily comfortable with, thanks largely to MTV’s second ever Video Of The Year for this track:

#90

THE BOYS OF SUMMER

By Don Henley and Mike Campbell

1984, USA

The themes here are consistent with so many of Henley’s big songs: the passage of time; aging; reflection. While it’s largely regarded a love song; a longing for an ex-lover, which is supported by the Boys of Summer original context: the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team who broke the hearts of so many fans by moving to Los Angeles, I interpret the narrator’s actual intentions to be clouded and undecided. “I should just let it go but…”

Henley insists he really did see a Deadhead (Grateful Dead) bumper sticker on a Cadillac; a prime example of selling out with age. And while I can find no consolidation on this: I believe the rather blatant use of a drum machine by a celebrated manual drummer is an intentional reference to that theme along with the absurdly-lifeless drumming style of the little boy in the video; clearly a young-Henley representation.  

Peak: #5, Billboard Top 100 and #1, Billboard Top Rock Tracks.